PCBs dredging goal gets 25% boost

EPA says work cleaning the Hudson River is set to resume in May

Updated 8:18 pm, Thursday, December 8, 2011

Barges with backhoes work in the Hudson River just below Lock 7 seen here during a boat tour along the Champlain Canal and the Hudson River to see the PCB dredging process taking place on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 near Fort Edward. The tour was open to members of the media, members of the Community Advisory Group for the Hudson River PCBs Superfund Site and other interested parties. The State's Canal Corp provided the boat and the EPA gave the tour. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Barges with backhoes work in the Hudson River just below Lock 7...

Material on a barge that will be used to add a cap on the bottom of the Hudson River is seen during a boat tour along the Champlain Canal and the Hudson River to see the PCB dredging process taking place on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 near Fort Edward. The tour was open to members of the media, members of the Community Advisory Group for the Hudson River PCBs Superfund Site and other interested parties. The State's Canal Corp provided the boat and the EPA gave the tour. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union archive)

Material on a barge that will be used to add a cap on the bottom of...

A operator in a backhoe drops material to cap the bottom the Hudson River as seen during a boat tour along the Champlain Canal and the Hudson River to see the PCB dredging process taking place on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 near Fort Edward. A cap is placed in a area that after two dredging some PCB material still remains. The tour was open to members of the media, members of the Community Advisory Group for the Hudson River PCBs Superfund Site and other interested parties. The State's Canal Corp provided the boat and the EPA gave the tour. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A operator in a backhoe drops material to cap the bottom the Hudson...

Material on a barge that will be used to add a cap on the bottom of the Hudson River is seen during a boat tour along the Champlain Canal and the Hudson River to see the PCB dredging process taking place on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 near Fort Edward. The tour was open to members of the media, members of the Community Advisory Group for the Hudson River PCBs Superfund Site and other interested parties. The State's Canal Corp provided the boat and the EPA gave the tour. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union archive)

Material on a barge that will be used to add a cap on the bottom of...

FORT EDWARD — The goal for dredging of toxic PCBs from the Hudson River will be increased by more than 25 percent next year, due to successful steps taken this year to reduce the amount of PCBs that were resuspended in water during dredging, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday.

EPA Project Director Dave King said the goal for 2012 will be remove 450,000 cubic yards of tainted river bottom sediments from the river, up from this year's goal of 350,000 cubic yards.

Dredging is set to resume in May south of Fort Edward to Griffin Island, just north of Lock 6.

This year, about 363,000 cubic yards were dredged from about 75 acres between June 6 and the end of season, Nov. 8, King said. That was more than expected because even though high water levels in spring meant work started about a month late, the weather at the end of the season was dry, allowing work to continue longer.

General Electric Co., which is conducting the dredging under an agreement with EPA, will construct a second unloading facility for dredging barges at the PCB processing facility on the Champlain Canal at Fort Edward, King said.

That should allow more material to be dredged and brought to the plant, where tainted sediments are squeezed into a dry, cracker-like substance, and the loaded on rail cars for disposal in a hazardous waste dump in Texas.

The accelerated pace is possible because of steps taken this year to reduce the amount of PCBs that were resuspended in the water during dredging, King said. The changes were recommended by a blue-ribbon panel of experts in 2010, who had studied the first year of dredging in 2009.

Changes included better river bottom mapping to more accurately show the depth of PCB contamination. That allowed for fewer dredge passes through contaminated areas, which reduced the time that such areas were exposed before being capped over with clean gravel.

The goal was to have no more than 1 percent of the total amount of PCBs being dredged ultimately showing up downriver at GE sensors in Waterford, King said the actual figure was about 0.15 percent.

Fewer PCBs also were present in the air around dredge sites and the processing facility in 2011 than in 2009, King said. He said GE air sensors along the river bank recorded seven instances in 2011 where PCB air levels exceeded safety standards; there were 84 such instances in 2009.

"We believe that GE will be able to proceed faster," GE spokeswoman Joan Gerhardt said.

King said he could not say whether this would reduce the amount of time it will take to finish the work. "In my opinion, we are still looking at five more years," he said.

GE plants in Fort Edward and neighboring Hudson Falls discharged PCBs into the river for decades before the lubricant and coolant was banned by EPA in 1977. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are considered probable carcinogens.